Automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines



T. RAPP Jan. 13, 1942.

AUTOMATIC FEED CONTROL FOR WEIGHING AND PACKAGING MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1959 A INVENTOR. THEODORE RA PP I I ATTORNEY;

Patented Jan. 13, 1942 AUTOMATIC FEED CONTROL FOR WEIGII- ING AND PACKAGING MACHINES Theodore Rapp, Los Angeles, Calif. Application September 16, 1939. Serial No. 295,280

5 Claims.

My invention relates to an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines of the particular type disclosed in my co-pending application for U. S. Letters Patent filed July 27, 1938, Serial No. 221,575. The principal objects of my present invention are, to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of the automatic feed control disclosed in my co-pending application, as well as other similar feed controldevices; further, to provide improved and positively operating means that is automatically actuated by the weight of the product that is moving through the apparatus, for controlling the operation of the endless conveyor that delivers the product to the weighing and packaging machine in order to bring about a more uniform flow or travel of the product as it passes into and through the vibrating trough that discharges into the hopper from which the receptacles are suspended.

A further object of my invention is, to provide an automatic feed control of the character referred to that is particularly applicable for handling products which by reason of their shape and characteristics do not flow as freely as products wherein the individual pieces are substantially of uniform size and shape.

My improved control also provides for automatically cutting out or stopping the operation of the endless conveyor or other feeding means utilized for delivering the product that is being weighed and packaged and, which automatic action is effected by means of a pivoted. chute or trough through which the product passes from the discharge and of the conveyor to the vibrat- 1 ing trough. Thu in the event of an overflow or feed of product through the pivoted trough, the latter is actuated by the increase in the weight of the product to stop the operation of the means that delivers the product to said pivoted chute or trough and, when the excess product discharges from the pivoted chute or trough into the vibrating trough said pivoted chute acts automatically to start operation of the material feeding means.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts that will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section taken lengthwise through the center of the automatic feed control with parts thereof shown in elevation.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the feed control.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the feed control :looking in the direction indicated by the arrow 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the tilting chute that controls the operation of the material feeding means.

Fig. 5 is a cross section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Fig. '7 is an elevational diagrammatic view of the switch that controls the circuit to the motor that operates the material feeding means. I

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of my invention, It designates the upper portion of the frame .of a combined weighing and packaging machine and, projecting above one end of said frame and suitably supported thereby is a-housing ll within which is arranged for operation an endless conveyor I2, preferably a belt that operates over pulleys arranged at the ends of the housing II. This conveyor is driven by an electric motor shown diagrammatically in Fig. 7 and the upper end of said conveyor discharges into a short inclined'trough l3 that projects downwardly from the upper end of the conveyor housing H. v

A conventional weighing scale (not shown) is located in the upper portion of frame It adjacent the end opposite the end to which the endless conveyor is connected and, projecting upwardly from one end of the scale beam are rods 14 that support a hopper l5 and, projecting upwardly from the sides of this hopper are walls It.

Hopper l5 provides means for delivering the product or commodity that is being weighed and packaged directly into bags or containers B and the open upper ends of which latter are detachably connected to said hopper.

A vibrating trough i1 is arranged for operation in a plane just above the upper end of hopper l5 so as to discharge the product that is being weighed and packaged into said hopper and, the receiving end of the bottom of this reciprocating trough is bent upwardly so as to form a short inclined member I8. Arranged on the under side of the bottom of trough I1 is a plate I! to which is connected the upper ends of slightly inclinedplates 20 of resilient metal, the lower ends thereof being fixed to a base plate 2| that is mounted on parts of the frame It.

Trough I! may be vibrated by any. suitable means, for instance, an electromagnet 22 that is arranged to attract an armature 23 that is secured to trough H or a part carried thereby.

Positioned on the upper portion of frame ll above and to the sides of the vibrating trough I! are upright walls 30 that prevent the product that is delivered into the vibrating trough from discharging outwardly from the sides thereof and, the front ends of these side walls III are connected by a wall ii, the lower end of which terminates just above the discharge and of vibrating trough l1.

Mounted on frame It below the lower end of the inclined trough i3 is a plate 32 and, proiecting upwardly from the sides thereof are standards a and pivoted to the upper portions of these standards are the lower portions of the vertical members of a substantially U-shaped strap 84. The upper ends of the vertical legs of this strap are connected in any suitable manner to the rear portions of the side walls of a trough is substantially u-shape in cross section and which trough swings on the horizontal axis formed by the pivots 36 that connect the upper portions of the standards 33 with the lower portion of strap 34.

The open upper rear end of this tilting trough 35 receives the lower end of trough i3 and the lower forward en: of said tilting trough is positioned between the rear ends of the side walls I! and above the inclined rear portion ll of the vibrating trough l'l. Thus the product that is delivered by the endless conveyor into trough ll passes by gravity downwardly therethrough into and through tilting trough 35 and discharges from the lower end thereof into the vibrating trough l1.

Depending from the forward end of the bottom of the tilting trough I5 is a flange 31 that occupies a position immediately to the rear of the upper rear end portion II of the bottom of trough i1 and, as long as there is a normal flow of product through the tilting trough the forward end of the bottom thereof occupies a position a short distance above the upper end of inclined member I! as illustrated by solid lines in Figs. 1 and 6.

To limit the downward movement of the forward end of trough 35 and which occurs when an over feed of product is delivered to the troughs l3 and I! by the conveyor, a stop screw 38 is seated in a fixed bracket 39 beneath the forward end of trough 35 and, mounted on said screw beneath said bracket is a lock nut 40 (see Fig. 6).

This screw 38 may be moved upward or downward through bracket 39 so as to limit the downward movement of the forward end of trough SI and said screw may be locked in its adjusted position by means of the nut 40.

Secured to the central portion of the cross arm of the U-shaped strap 34 is a rearwardly projecting rod II, the rear portion of which is threaded for the reception of a weight 42 that serves to counterbalance the weight of the forward portion of trough 35.

In order to limit the upward swinging movement of the forward end of trough 35, a stop screw 43 is seated in a lug on the rear portion of base plate 32 beneath rod II and mounted on said screw is a lock nut ll.

Under normal conditions the rod ll rests on the upper end of screw 48 and with the parts in such position, the lower end of the bottom of trough I5 is positioned a short distance above the upper rear end of the inclined member I! as illustrated by solid lines in Figs. 1 and 6.

Mounted on base plate 32 in front of the standards 33 is a conventional electric switch I! of the type that is normally closed and which is opened as a result of pressure applied to a pin or button I. One of the conductors 41 that lead from a suitable source of electric current supply to the motor 48 that operates the endless conveyor i! passes through switch 45 and also through a manually operable snap switch 48 that is located on the side wall of trough 35 adjacent switch 45.

The pin or button 48 that acts to open switch 45 is adapted to be engaged and moved downward by a lever that is pivoted on top of switch l5 and, mounted on the side of trough 38 above the free end of lever BI is a bracket 5|. Passing through said bracket is a screw 62 and mounted on said screw above said bracket is a lock nut 53. Under normal conditions or with the forward lower end of trough 35 elevated, the lower end of screw 52 is positioned slightly above the free end of lever 50 and as a result, there is a flow of current through the conductors l1 and normally closed. switch 45 to the motor II and, as the latter operates the endless conveyor delivers the product that is being weighed and packaged into chute II. The product or material iiow downwardly through trough l3 and also through trough 35 by gravity and discharges into trough ll.

The vibration of trough l1 causes the product delivered thereinto from trough 35 to discharge into the hopper I5, which latter carries the bag or receptacle B and, when the latter is filled with a predetermined amount by weight of the product that is passing through the machine and as indicated by the scale associated with the feeding apparatus, said filled receptacle is removed from the hopper by the operator and an unfilled receptacle positioned upon said hopper.

The downward movement of the forward portion of trough 35 is limited by the adjustable stop screw 38 and the upward movement of the forward end of said trough and the downward movement of the rear portion thereof are limited by the adjustable stop screw II.

In the event that the flow of product delivered by the conveyor to the trough l3 increases to such an extent as to clog the machine, the increase of weight of the overflow of the product passing through the forward portion of trough I! will move the forward end thereof downward with the result that screw 52 will engage and press downwardly on the free end of lever 50. thereby actuating push pin or button 45 so as to open switch 45 to cut of! the flow of electric current to motor 48 and thus stopping the operation of the endless conveyor.

Thus the conveyor is stopped momentarily or until the overflow of product has passed \rcm trough 35 into the vibrating trough l1 and, following such action the trough 35 will swing on the axis formed by the pivots 16 so that the downward end of said trough will move upward to its limit of movement, thereby relieving the lever ll of the pressure of screw 52 and switch 4! will actto automatically close the circuit to motor it so as to start and drive the endless conveyor.

The particular form of apparatus herein illustrated and'described may be utilized to advantage for automatically controlling the feeding and movement of various materials or products that are weighed and packaged by machinery, but said apparatus is especially effective in automatically controlling the flow of products, such as potato chips, pretzels, and the like.

Thus it will be seen that I haveprovided an It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing fromthe spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, the combination with a conveyor and its operating means, of a trough mounted for tilting movement at the discharge end of said conveyor, means actuated by the movement of said trough as a result of the weight of an overflow product delivered thereto by said conveyor for rendering the conveyor operating means inoperative, an adjust able stop for limiting the downward tilting movement of the forward portion of said trough and means for limiting the downward, tilting movement of the rear portion of said trough.

2. In an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, the combination with a conveyor and its operating means, of a trough mounted for tilting movement at the discharge end of said conveyor, means actuated by the movement of said trough as a result of the weight of an overflow of product delivered thereto by said conveyor for rendering the conveyor operating means inoperative, an adjustable stop for limiting the downward tilting movement of the forward end of said trough, an adjustable counterbalancing weight carried by the rear portion of said trough and an adjustable stop for limiting the downward movement of said counterweight.

3. An automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines embodying therein, a delivery conveyor for delivering material to be weighed, a second conveyor for advancing material to be weighed, a functionally open topped trough interposed between the delivery conveyor and the second conveyor and positioned to receive material from the delivery conveyor and to discharge it upon the second conveyor, said trough being formed automatically to locate itself in one position when sustaining not more than a predetermined amount of the material to be weighed and to be moved to another position when sustaining a greater predetermined amount of said material, and means operatively associated with said trough and formed automatically to render the delivery conveyor inoperative when material beyond said first mentioned predetermined weight accumulates upon the trough and moves the same so that the end nearer the second conveyor is depressed by failure of the second conveyor to advance the material at a rate sufiicient to prevent such accumulation on said trough and for automatically again rendering the delivery conveyor operative when the second conveyor has operated to remove the accumulated material andreduced the material on the trough to said first mentioned predetermined weight.

4. An automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines embodying therein, a delivery conveyor for delivering material to be weighed, a second conveyor for advancing material to be weighed, a functionally open topped tiltable trough operatively interposed between the delivery conveyor and the second conveyor and positioned to receive material from the delivery conveyor and to discharge it upon the second conveyor, said tiltable trough being formed automatically to occupy one position when sustaining not more than a predetermined amount of the material to be weighed and to be tilted to another position so that the end of the trough nearer the second conveyor is depressed when sustaining a greater predetermined amount of said material, and means operatively associated with said tiltable trough and formed automatically to render the delivery conveyor inoperative when the trough is tilted by the accumula tion of material therein beyond the first mentioned predetermined weight by failure of the second conveyor to advance the materiai at a rate suificient to prevent such accumulation on the tiltable trough and for automa'lically again rendering the delivery conveyor operative when the second conveyor has operated to remove the accumulated material and reduced the material on the tiltable trough to said first mentioned predetermined weight.

5. An automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines embodying therein, a delivery conveyor for delivering material to be weighed, a second conveyor for advancing material to be weighed, pivoted means operatively interposed between the delivery conveyor and the second conveyor and positioned to receive render the delivery conveyor inoperative when material beyond a predetermined weight accumulates upon the pivoted means and tilts the same by failure of the second conveyor to advance the material at a rate sumcient to prevent such accumulation on the pivoted means and for automatically again rendering the delivery conveyor operative when the second conveyor has operated to remove the accumulated material and reduced the material on the pivoted means to some predetermined weight.

THEODORE RAPP- 

